Spring 2011 - Hollywood Cemetery

FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY
412 South Cherry Street
Richmond, Virginia 23220
$200,000 Challenge Goal
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SPRING 2011 • VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1
Cabell and Parsons
$48,937 Raised to Date
$0 November 15, 2010
Presidents Circle Challenge
I
Challenge Grants Raise the Bar for Friends
n November 2010, Friends of Hollywood was notified of
two outstanding challenge matching grants of $100,000
each, one from The Robert G. Cabell III and Maude Morgan
Foundation and the other from The Mary Morton Parsons
Foundation. The Cabell and Parsons Foundations, both of
Richmond, have been long recognized for their extraordinary
philanthropy and support of local and statewide causes and
projects.
If the Friends of Hollywood is able to match these challenge
grants dollar for dollar, the prospect exists of deploying a total
of $400,000 to further their restoration and renovation activities
in Presidents Circle, the original and most historic section of
Hollywood Cemetery.
“These two grants are the most significant in the Cemetery’s
one hundred sixty-two-year history,” according to the Cemetery
General Manager, David Gilliam. “They can take us to the next
level in our fundraising efforts on behalf of Hollywood and our
restoration work.”
Payment of the Cabell and Parsons grants is contingent upon
Friends raising a new dollar for each grant dollar, a total of
$200,000. New funds may come from lot owners, individuals,
corporations, foundations, and state/federal agencies or
organizations. Friends has twelve months in which to meet
the terms of the challenges. “We are thrilled by the generous
response to date,” states Kelly Wilbanks, Friends Director of
Development. “Not only are we seeking financial support to
achieve our challenge goals but also new and renewed interest in
this remarkable Richmond and national landmark.”
Friends of Hollywood was organized and received its tax
exempt status in 2007. In 2008, it became the first adjunct of the
Cemetery fully dedicated to fundraising. Its stated purpose is to
Early morning mist on a Hollywood hillside. Photograph by John O. Peters. Courtesy of the Valentine Richmond History Center
Page 2
Page 4
110-Year-Old
Chapel Stabilized
A Second Life
for Presidents
Circle
Page 6
keep Hollywood a relevant and vital part of the community and
Commonwealth through conservation, preservation, education and
outreach.
For the past several years, Friends has focused its efforts wholly
on raising funds for the restoration and renovation of broken and
damaged monuments, statues, and ornamental fences in Presidents
Circle, comprised of the Mount, burial site of James Monroe and
John Tyler, and sections contiguous to it. “It is the most visited
section of Hollywood, an historic treasure,” comments Mary
Hoge Anderson, Friends Chairperson. “We wished to begin our
restoration work where it might have a significant impact upon the
future of the Cemetery as well as its visitors. After much research,
the Mount and the sections surrounding it were chosen.”
“There are only two other cemeteries in the country that, like
Hollywood, are resting places for two Presidents of the United
States,” Gilliam states proudly. “One is Arlington National
Cemetery (William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy) and the
other, United First Parish Church (Unitarian) in Quincy, MA (John
Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams).
With contributions to Friends, the Cemetery was able to begin
active restoration of statuary and fencing in Presidents Circle in
2010. During the year, 192 monuments were stabilized, repaired/
restored. In addition, 17 iron fences were also re-welded and
repaired. In 2011, conservation and restoration will continue.
Plans include reconstruction of the Cemetery’s most beautiful iron
fence surrounding the Palmer family plot as well as restoration of
265 markers, monuments and statues.
“Time can only make matters worse,” David Gilliam shares.
“Without attention very soon, some of Hollywood’s most
exceptional works will be beyond repair and lost permanently to
future generations.”
Page 8
Profile:
Spring Tours
Hunter Holmes & Kelly Wilbanks
(“Mac”) McGuire
Page 9
Page 10
“A Feast for the
Eyes as well as
the Mind”
2010
Contributors
110-Year-Old Chapel Stabilized
The project would also require roof repairs,
gap/joint pointing, the disassembly and
rebuilding of a major stone support buttress
and extensive interior repair and painting.
The general contractor chosen for
the project was RVA Construction of
Richmond. Dean Van Arsdale, RVA
partner, explained that his first assignment
was to challenge the S&ME/Fox
conclusions. “Was there another way, a
less expensive yet reliable way of doing the
job?”
A
major project to stabilize the
walls of Hollywood’s historic,
hundred-and-ten-year-old Chapel was
successfully completed in December
2010. Constructed in two phases, the
Chapel (now serving as the Cemetery
office) is one of Hollywood’s most
outstanding architectural features.
A two-story tower in the Gothic Revival
style was completed in 1871. It served as a
gate house and office when the entrance to
Hollywood was located on Cherry Street.
Phase two involved the addition of a third
story to the tower and construction of an
adjoining chapel/mortuary building. Work
on this phase was completed ca. 1898.
Plans for phase two were prepared by the
well-known Virginia architect, Marion
Johnson Dimmock.
Granite from James River quarries was the
primary building material for both the Chapel and tower. Over the years, these heavy
blocks have exerted significant downward
pressure on their foundations and the soil
strata beneath. Nowhere was this settling
force and movement more obvious than
in the southwest and southern walls of the
Chapel. In the location where the southern
wall adjoins the tower, a gap of nearly oneand-a-half to two inches had formed. In
other locations, movement approached four
inches.
Extensive geotechnical, structural and
architectural field studies were undertaken
at the request of the Board of Directors
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
in late 2009 and early 2010 by the
engineering firm, S&ME, Inc. – Richmond
Office, in cooperation with structural
engineers Fox & Associates, P.C. and
Cornerstone Architects, both of Richmond.
After digging a number of test pits,
performing borings, and analyzing findings,
S&ME reported that the southwestern and
southern walls were being compromised
by deteriorating and loosely compacted
sub-foundation materials (clay, sand, small
gravel) as well as moderate amounts of soil
moisture.
It was recommended that the condition be
addressed without delay. The remedial
technique would involve pit underpinning
as opposed to bracing or straightening
of walls. The problem would be mainly
addressed under ground rather than above
ground. Pits would be dug straight down
alongside the exterior walls, in some places
as deep as ten to twelve feet below grade,
and then at right angles under the walls.
They then would be filled with reinforced
concrete.
“How in the world do you do that?” asked
one board member. “The old fashioned
way,” responded Jesse Darden, S&ME
geotechnical engineer, “with shovels,
buckets, and a great deal of care.” Pit
underpinning is a centuries old, reliable and
highly successful technique, but despite
modern-day building technology, it is still
very much a manual process.
Page 2
Several foundation specialty firms
were consulted. “We simply weren’t
100% comfortable with the alternative
approaches,” Van Arsdale explained.
“After much investigation and thought, we
concluded that pit underpinning was the
way to go.”
The actual underpinning work was subbed
by RVA to Berkel & Company Contractors
from Silver Spring, Md. Berkel created
the design plan for how the project would
be executed. It involved the digging of ten
separate pits along the foundation, each
approximately 3½ feet wide.
The depth of each pit was determined as
digging proceeded. In some cases, a depth
of 12-13 feet below grade was required
in order to reach firm soil strata. Each
pit excavation extended under the brick
foundation and granite walls – from front
to back, a distance of 6-7 feet. Digging
was sequenced to ensure the greatest
degree of foundation/wall stability and
worker safety.
“I was surprised by how stable the old
brick foundations were,” Van Arsdale
remarked. “Normally old brick deteriorate
under ground, particularly in moist soil.”
Regardless, each pit worker was required to
wear a safety harness attached by ropes to a
hoist at the surface.
“We are delighted to have this project
completed,” says David Gilliam, General
Manager. “Preserving the building and
rededicating it one day to its original use
as a chapel and meeting place have always
been a dream of mine.”
SPRING 2011
Dr. and Mrs. Walter Lawrence, Jr.
Mr. Craig Lawson
Mrs. Carmen P. LeCompte
Mrs. John B. Leonard
Dr. Barbara H. Lester
Ms. Deborah H. Long
Mr. and Mrs. Gene K. Long
Dr. Ann Lowry
Miss Teresa Luckert
Mr. and Mrs. Linwood R. Lucord, Jr.
Mr. William H. Lyne, Jr.
Mrs. Frank C. Maloney III
Mr. Robert R. Martin
E. Jean Matherne
Mrs. H. Page Mauck, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil R. Maxson, Jr.
Mr. Thomas J. Mayfield, Jr.
Mrs. Robert O. McClintock
Mrs. William M. McDonough
Dr. and Mrs.* Read F. McGehee, Jr.
Mrs. Susan A. McGrath
Dr. and Mrs. Francis H. McMullan
Mr. and Mrs. Rieman McNamara, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. George J. McVey
Mr. George W. Michael
Mrs. Richard A. Michaux
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller
Mr. Thomas M. Miller
Mr. Thomas M. Millhiser
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace B. Millner III
Mr. and Mrs. G. Gilmer Minor, III
Mr. and Mrs. Carlton P. Moffatt, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Molster, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. George V. Moncure
Mrs. Mary Ann Pollard Moore
Mr. Andrew T. Moore, Jr.
Mr. Gerald Morgan, Jr.
Mr. Thomas L. Mountcastle
Mr. Beverley B. Munford III
Mrs. Helen Turner Murphy
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis H. Myers
Mr. Thomas J. Nash
Mr. Polk M. Neal
Mrs. Lucy B. Negus
Mrs. Sarah Newcomb
Mr. and Mrs. James A. Nolen
Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Norfleet, Jr.
Mrs. Karen Maosha Norris
Mr. Frank C. Norvell, Jr.
Mr. William H. Overton
Mrs. Samuel F. Padgett III
Mr. Jerome F. Page, Jr.
Mrs. Ingrid Pantaenius
Mrs. H. Merrill Pasco
Mrs. Jane C. Patton
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley F. Pauley
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Payne
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Pearsall III
Mr. and Mrs. John Pearson
Mrs. Maria A. Pellew-Harvey
Mrs. Chiswell D. L. Perkins
Mrs. Robert C. Perry
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth M. Perry
Mrs. Linda B. Peterson
Mr. and Mrs. Hunter R. Pettus, Jr.
Mrs. P. P. Pilcher, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. C. Cotesworth Pinckney
Mrs. Robert N. Pollard, Jr.
Mrs. Suzanne C. Pollard
Mr. Wadim Polujektoff
Mrs. Jane D. Powell
Mr. E. Bryson Powell
Mr. and Mrs. Peter W.W. Powell
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Pratt
Mr. Joseph A. Ramage
Mrs. John Ramos
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde H. Ratcliffe
Mrs. Elizabeth Rawles
Mrs. Frank L. Rawling, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. P. Larus Reed III
Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Rettig
Mr. David P. Reynolds
Dr. and Mrs. James T. Rhodes
Mrs. Juliane M. Riley
Mrs. Maria W. Rippe
Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. Ritsch, Jr.
Mr. John W. Roberts
Mr. Field I. Robertson, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Robinson
Mr. Edwin M. Rucker, Jr.
Mrs. Anne A. Rudy
Mr. and Mrs. James C. Ruehrmund
Mrs. Paul L. Ruehrmund, Jr.
Mrs. Wanda B. Saine
Mrs. Calvin Satterfield III
Mrs. John D. Savage
Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Schaaf
Mr. and Mrs. John J. Schekulin
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Schrenk
Mr. D. Malcolm Schwartz
Mr. Walter W. Scott
Mrs. Elizabeth P. Scott
Mrs. Evelina Massie Scott
Mrs. James L. Seaborn, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Shands, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Conway H. Shield III
Mrs. Anne K. Shields
Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington Shuff
Mrs. Anne F. Simmons
Mr. Mitford Sims III
Mrs. Martha J. Sinclair
Mrs. Cecil S. Slagle
Mrs. Schuyler O. Sneed
Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Spain, Jr.
Mrs. Mary R. Spencer
Mr. Wortham A. Spilman, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Srpan
Mrs. Ursula F. Stalker
Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Starr, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald E. Steeber
Mrs. Emily Lloyd Stephens
Mr. F. Gordon Steward
Dr. Thomas P. Stratford
Mrs. Walter N. Street
Mr. Charles S. Stringfellow
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce W. Strong
Mrs. Hazeltine P. Strother
Mr. and Mrs. James E. B. Stuart IV
Mrs. Mary N. Sutherland
Mr. Thomas E. Sweet
Mrs. Ellen L. Tabb
Mrs. Cabell M. Tabb
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Talbott IV
Mr. and Mrs. William St.C. Talley
Mr. Samuel V. Tallman, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred T. Tattersall
Anne W. Taylor Trust
Mrs. Ruth Taylor
Mrs. Sally A. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Terry, Jr.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Mr. and Mrs. Walter TeStrake, Jr.
Mrs. Jane C. Texter
Mr. Paul G. Thayer
Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Thomas
Miss Laurie Thompson
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin C. Tiller
Dr. and Mrs. C. Kent Titus
Mr. Peter Toepffer
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Tompkins
Mrs. Zach Toms, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. Toms
Mrs. Martha K. Torkington
Mr. Brent D. Trefsgar
Mrs. Charlotte W. Trible
Dr. E. Randolph Trice
Mr. Landon W. Trigg
Mr. Benjamin W. Tripp
Judge John Randolph Tucker, Jr.
Mr. B. Walton Turnbull
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Turnbull
Mr. Joseph V. Turner III
Mrs. Lynne C. Valentine
Mr. and Mrs. Granville G. Valentine III
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Van Sickle
Dr. Elizabeth R. Vaughan
Mr. Ernest C. Vaughan, Jr.
Mrs. Fontaine J. Velz
Mrs. Evelyn M. Walke
Mrs. Kathryn K. Walker
Mr. and Mrs. C. Southall Wallace
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon W. Wallace
Mrs. Elizabeth F. Wallace
Dr. and Mrs. J. Latane Ware
Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Warthen III
Mr. James S. Watkinson
Mr. Harry Lee Watson III
Mrs. Patricia R. Weier
Mr. B. Randolph Wellford
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Wells III
Mr. Ralph C. White, Jr.
Mrs. Carol G. White
Ms. Jacqueline Whitmore
Mrs. Raymond H. Whitney
Dr. and Mrs. James R. Wickham
Dr. and Mrs. Peter T. Wilbanks
Mr. Carrington C. Wilkerson
Mr. and Mrs. Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
Mrs. Ann L. Williams
Mr. E. Otto N. Williams, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold J. Williams III
Mr. and Mrs. Harold J. Williams, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Williamson III
Mr. Robert G. Willis, Jr.
Ms. Isabella G. Witt
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Witt III
Dr. Natalie J. Woodall
Mr. John E. Woodward, Jr.
Mrs. Michael B. Wray
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Wyatt IV
Mrs. Mildred L. Wysong
Dr. Henry Yancey, Jr.
Mrs. Betty B. Young
Mr. and Mrs. John J. Zeugner IV
Mr. Richard B. Zorn
Mr. and Mrs. David Lee Zorn
* Deceased
Page 11
Corporations and
Foundations
Bank of America Matching Gifts
Beirne Carter Foundation
Edmund A. Saunders, Janie Q.
Saunders, and Jane Quinn Saunders
Foundation
Gottwald Foundation
Anne Carter Robins and Walter R.
Robins, Jr. Foundation
Windsor Foundation Trust
United Way of VA Peninsula
Van Yahres Associates
Van Yahres Tree Company
Gifts In-Kind
James River Garden Club
2010-2011
Officers and Directors
Hollywood Cemetery Company
Matthew D. Jenkins – President
Peter C. Toms – Vice President
David L. Gilliam – Secretary and
General Manager
Woodrow C. Harper – Treasurer
Mabel E. Toney – Assistant Secretary
and Assistant Treasurer
Mary Hoge Anderson
Ralph B. Higgins
Matthew D. Jenkins
Nelson D. Lankford
E. Bryson Powell
Fred T. Tattersall
Peter C. Toms
Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
2010-2011
Officers and Directors
Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
Mary Hoge Anderson – Chair
David L. Gilliam – Secretary
Peter C. Toms – Treasurer
Mary Hoge Anderson
Matthew D. Jenkins
Peter C. Toms
Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
Administrative Staff
Hollywood Cemetery Company
David L. Gilliam – General Manager
Woodrow C. Harper – Assistant
General Manager
Kelly J. Wilbanks - Director of
Development
Mabel E. Toney – Administrative
Assistant
SPRING 2011
2010 Contributors
To
Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
We are indeed grateful to the following donors for their generous support of Friends in 2010. You have enabled us to begin
a significant monument and fence restoration project in and around Presidents Circle. Thank you for helping us to preserve
Hollywood Cemetery for generations to come.
Mary Hoge Anderson
Chair, Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin C. Ackerly
Mr. and Mrs. John P. Ackerly III
Mr. and Mrs. John P. Ackerly IV
Mr. Max R. Adam
Mr. and Mrs. S. Wyndham Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin C. Andrews III
Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Angus
Mr. and Mrs. Beverley W. Armstrong
Mr. and Mrs. John S. Arnold
Mrs. Sally T. Bagley
Mr. William B. Baker
Mrs. Katherine R. Banisch
Mr. Martin J. Bannon, Jr.
Mr. William N. Barrett, Jr.
Mrs. John W. Bates, III
Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt S. Beazley III
Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Beirne, Jr.
Mrs. Margaret P. Bemiss
Mrs. Hazel Beninghove
Mrs. Lillian Bennett
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund L. Benson III
Ms. Martha R. Bibb
Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Black
Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Blackwell
Mrs. Frank M. Blanton
Mr. Donald Bogen
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis T. Booker
Mr. Bowlman T. Bowles, Jr.
Mr. Charles Bowman
Mr. and Mrs. McGuire Boyd
Mrs. Caroline Y. Brandt
Mr. Philip K. Bridgeman
Mr. and Mrs. Austin Brockenbrough III
Mrs. Martha C. Brook
Mr. Duane G. Brown
Mr. William M. Brown III
Mrs. Joyce Kent Brown
Mr. and Mrs. J. Stewart Bryan III
Mr. and Mrs. William Michaux
Buchanan
Mrs. E. C. Buckminster
Mr. and Mrs. Bryce A. Bugg
Mr. A. Christian Burke
Mr. Richard S. Burke
Mr. Clifford L. Bussells, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew V. Cable, Sr.
Mrs. Joseph B. Call, Jr.
Mr. Brian M. Cann
Mrs. Dorothy G. Cardozo
Mr. Drew St. J. Carneal
Mrs. Anne K. Carnefix
Mrs. Francis F. Carr, Jr.
Mrs. Emily E. Carter
Mrs. Dorothy P. Cary
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Cary
Mr. and Mrs. Warren W. Caskie
Mrs. Leah A. Catterino
Mr. Richard T. Cavedo
Mrs. Virginia D. Chapman
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Chewning
Mr. Carter C. Chinnis
M. Louise Chrisman
Mrs. Elizabeth P. Christian
Mrs. Stuart G. Christian, Jr.
Ms. Agnes C. Clark
Mrs. William H. Clarke
Mrs. Suzanne P. Closs
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth D. Cobb III
Mrs. Sally C. Condrey
Mrs. Harriett W. Condrey
Mrs. Janet H. Connors
Mr. and Mrs. George T. Conwell
Mr. John E. Corey
Mrs. Henry J. Corra
Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Craigie
Mrs. Susan G. Crone
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Cronly III
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Curdts
Mrs. Martha O. Davenport
Mr. and Mrs. Bradfute W. Davenport, Jr.
Mr. Allan Holderness Davis, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Norwood H. Davis, Jr.
Mrs. Ingrid H. Davis
Mrs. Elizabeth C. Dawes
Dr. Brigitte de la Burde
Miss Alice DeCamps
Mrs. Overton D. Dennis, Jr.
Mr. Samuel A. Derieux
Mr. Charles W. Dickinson
Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Dietz
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Disharoon
Mrs. Ann L. Ditto
Mrs. Tanya P. Dolphin
Mr. Walter Dotts III
Mr. and Mrs. Mark S. Dray
Mr. and Mrs. Roger W. Dudley
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer K. Dunn
Mrs. Fred R. Edney
Mr. Gene H. Edwards, Jr.
Miss Virginia C. Ellett
Mr. George C. Ely II
Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Erikson
Mr. Christopher J. Evans
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Fain
Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Farley IV
Mr. and Mrs. James E. Farnham
Mrs. Martha A. Faulkner
Mrs. Russell G Fergusson, Jr.
Mrs. Carolyn M. Fetrow
Dr. and Mrs. Adam J. Fielder
Mrs. Katherine G. Fields
Mr. James H. Fields
Mr. Jerald A. Finch
Mrs. Edgar J. Fisher, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert E. Fitzgerald III
Mrs. Frances B. Fitzgerald
Mr. and Mrs. Harvie W. Fitzgerald
Mrs. Mary Toms Fitzgerald
Mr. Robert J. Flacke
Mrs. Frank V. Fowlkes
Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Fowlkes, Jr.
Mr. Richard H. Fox
Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Fox
Mrs. Lucille S. Gaines
Mrs. William C. Garbee, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Gates
Mrs. Kenneth G. Gentil
Mr. Stuart Gilchrist
Major General L. H. Ginn III
Mrs. James M. Glave
Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Goddin
Mr. C. Hobson Goddin
Mrs. Kathryn B. Goodman
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce C. Gottwald
Mr. and Mrs. Ellis B. Grady, Jr.
Mrs. Aelise Britton Green
Mrs. George Dennis Gregory
Mr. and Mrs. John R. Grymes
Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Grymes, Jr.
Mrs. John H. Guy, Jr.
Mrs. Phyllis Guynn
Mrs. Arthur H. Haase
Mr. Charles L. Hague
Mr. and Mrs. Brenton S. Halsey
Dr. Dana B. Hamel
Page 10
Mr. and Mrs. James C. Hamilton, Jr.
Mr. Richard P. Hankins, Jr.
Mrs. William M. Harlow
Mrs. Jean H. Harrier
Mr. and Mrs. Elliott Harrigan
Ms. Martha H. Harris
Ms. Sally C. Harrison
Mr. and Mrs. Claude H. Harrison
Mrs. Martha C. Harwood
Mr. Robert V. Hatcher, Jr.
Mrs. Judy Hawthorne
Mr. Frank D. Hill III
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Hill
Mrs. S. Winfield Hill
Mr. and Mrs. William M. Hill
Mrs. Jean H. Hoagland
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Hodgins
Mr. and Mrs. J. Cameron Hoggan, Jr.
Mr. William H. Hoofnagle III
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Hoppe
Mr. and Mrs. Fenton N. Hord, Sr.
Dr. J. Shelton Horsley III
Mrs. Evelyn W. Hotchkiss
Mr. A. E. Dick Howard
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Howell III
Mrs. George C. Howell, Jr.
Dr. J. Hubert
Mrs. Cheryl Hudson
Mrs. Virginia L. Hunt
Mr. Johnnie W. Inman
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Innes
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel S. Jackson, Jr.
Mrs. G. Watson James III
Mrs. Anne H. Jennings
Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah J. Jewett III
Mr. Miles C. Johnston, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. F. Claiborne Johnston, Jr.
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Jones
Mr. John F. B. Jurgens
Mrs. Page M. Kjellstrom
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Klein
Mrs. Elaine Kozlowski
Mrs. Sheri Kresal
Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Kuhn
Mr. and Mrs. Brockenbrough Lamb, Jr.
Mrs. Norvell H. Lamb
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Henly Lamb
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson D. Lankford
Mr. Robert H. Large
SPRING 2011
2
4
1.
2.
An early image (ca. 1900) of
the re-designed tower and
newly constructed Hollywood
Chapel. Courtesy of the
Library of Virginia
The visible separation of the
south wall of the Chapel
from the west wall of the tower has now been repaired.
3. A buttress supporting the
west wall of the Chapel
had shifted by four or more inches. It was dismantled
stone by stone and
re-assembled once
underpinning was completed.
4. Workmen installing a steel I-beam (“dead man”)
to stabilize the southwest corner of the Chapel prior
to excavation.
3
5. A workman standing 12 feet below grade in a
safety harness measures in one of ten pits. A five gallon bucket used for removing excavated material is visible suspended from a rope. The
original brick foundation of the Chapel
appears in the upper left and a yellow
ventilation pipe in the lower left.
6. A pit recently filled with reinforced concrete
(approximately 4 cubic yards). Several inches
of space between the top of concrete and the base of the foundation have been filled with packed dry grout – a substance that does not shrink when it sets.
6
5
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Page 3
SPRING 2011
Extensive Project
G
A Second Life for Presidents Circle
round was broken in September
2010 for one of the most significant
projects contemplated by Hollywood’s
2005 Revised and Updated Master Plan.
The project involves the permanent
closure of all roads leading into
Presidents Circle and replacement with
meandering cobblestone walks lined by
over nine hundred granite cremation
niches.
projects are distinctly different but
totally complimentary. The result will be
magnificent.”
Project planning has been under
review for several years. At a cost of
approximately $1.0 million, it is the
largest developmental undertaking in
Hollywood since the construction of the
Palmer Mausoleum beside the James
River. Completion, including the
planting of new ground covers, shrubbery
and trees, is expected to occur by May 1.
Michael (“Mike”) Van Yahres, Partner,
has an intimate familiarity with
Hollywood Cemetery. “I realized that
we were being asked to work in some
pretty intimidating surroundings,” he
shared recently. “Presidents Circle and
the historic sections that surround it are
Hollywood’s bull’s eye. We saw our
charge as supporting the art in stone and
iron that is there, and not competing with
it.”
“The project timing coincides beautifully
with the efforts of Friends to restore
monuments and fences in and around
Presidents Circle,” according to David
Gilliam, General Manager. “The two
The Board retained Van Yahres
Associates of Charlottesville to develop
the detailed site design. Important to the
Board and Van Yahres was preservation
of the unusual geometric symmetry of
original roadways and walks.
After reviewing a number of bids,
the project was awarded to KBS,
headquartered in Richmond and one
of the largest and most well-respected
general contractors in the Mid-Atlantic
region. KBS’s local accomplishments
include numerous highly visible projects
such as the UNOS Donor Memorial
Garden, CarMax Corporate Headquarters,
Luck Stone Headquarters, Country Club
of Virginia Aquatic Center, and VCU’s
Rice Center for Environmental Life
Sciences. Messer Companies, especially
known for its work on the State Capitol
Visitor Center, was retained for all stone
and masonry work.
A total of 607 tons (1,214,000 lbs.) of
granite was required for the project and
provided by Luck Stone Corporation,
including edging, low and tall curbing,
and over 100,000 individual, seven-anda-half pound cobblestones. Every piece
of stone was pre-cut prior to delivery and
designed to fit together with all other
pieces on site just like a giant jigsaw
puzzle.
“KBS and Messer have exceeded all
expectations,” Mike Van
Yahres remarked. “There
have been few if any
problems or change orders.
The project has proceeded
extremely well.”
Individual cremation niches
lining the cobblestone
walkways will be covered
with smooth, rectangular
granite covers, large enough
to contain suitable engraved
identifying information. All
niches have been designed
to contain two cremains.
Hollywood seeks to be
an active cemetery for at
least fifty or more years.
To do so, the Board and
Management Staff wish to
be able to offer a variety of
interment sites and options
to individuals and families
at all times and to dispel the
notion that “Hollywood is
full.”
(Continued on page 5)
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Page 4
SPRING 2011
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery
“A Feast for the Eyes as well as the Mind”
T
his was the manner in which John O. Peters’s latest
book, Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, was described
in Virginia Book Notes of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
(January 9, 2011).
This is the seventh book for which John Peters has written
the words or taken the photographs, sometimes both, as is
the case with this work. Peters began work on the project
in the summer of 2006. His final manuscript was completed
in October 2008. Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery was
published by the Valentine Richmond History Center and
released in October 2010.
director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Making the
Mummies Dance.
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery is available at Barnes and
Noble, the Valentine Richmond History Center Gift Shop,
Virginia Historical Society Gift Shop, Hollywood Cemetery,
the Richmond Visitors Center and at local booksellers such as
Fountain Books and Book People. The book also is available
for purchase online at www.richmondhistorycenter.com.
“Working on the Hollywood project was an absolute delight,”
recalls Peters. Over the months, Peters has conducted a
number of book signings and spoken several times about his
book, including two well-attended Banner Series lectures at
the Virginia Historical Society.
Prior to beginning his second career as accomplished
author and a talented photographer, Peters practiced law in
Richmond for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of the
Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia
School of Law. Currently, Peters is hard at work on a new
manuscript on the history of the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery is a collection of
Hollywood history, stories, and anecdotes covering 160
years. Peters writes about architecture, landscape, ironwork,
stone carvers, mausoleums, symbolism and residents –
notable and otherwise. Peters is the second author given
access to Hollywood minute books and records from which
to perform original research.
Included in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery are nearly
200 images, 45 of which are in full color. There are also
numerous historic photographs not previously published.
Peters spent nearly a year photographing the Cemetery in
order to capture various light, moods, and the individual
seasons.
In his review of Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery appearing
in Style Weekly on October 6, 2010, Edwin Slipek not only
heaps praise upon Peters’s work but also provides some
unusual imagery. He said that Peters “has surely and
assuredly woven a lively and layered quilt that patches
together some 160 years of intriguing corporate, political,
military, architectural, social and funerary history.” He
concludes with: “But author and photographer Peters takes
things further. He almost makes the mummies dance” – a
reference to the autobiography of Thomas Hoving, former
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
John O. Peters Courtesy of the Valentine Richmond History Center
Page 9
SPRING 2011
Rain or Shine
F
Spring Tours Planned
For Lot Owners and
Friends Supporters
riends of Hollywood have scheduled three walking
tours and one riding tour of the Cemetery in May for
Hollywood lot owners and friends.
“It is a beautiful time of year at the Cemetery,” says Kelly
Wilbanks, Director of Development, “and we wished to do
something special for our Hollywood families and supporters.”
Trained guides from the Valentine Richmond History Center
will conduct the free of charge tours on the following dates.
Tours will originate at the Hollywood Chapel/Office and last
approximately an hour and a half.
• Tuesday, May 17th, 11:30 am (immediately following the Annual Meeting of Lot Owners)
• Thursday, May 19th, 10:30 am
• Saturday, May 21st, 10:30 am
• Sunday, May 22nd, 2:00 pm – BUS TOUR
The Valentine Richmond History Center has been conducting
tours of Hollywood for many years. “It is one of the most
popular tours we offer,” according to Linda Krinsky, the
History Center’s Director of Tours. Guides are extremely
knowledgeable not only of the history of the Cemetery, but also
“the landscape design, architecture, symbols and the notables
buried in Hollywood.”
Following each tour, Friends will provide light refreshment at
the Chapel.
Please e-mail Kelly Wilbanks at Kwilbanks@
hollywoodcemetery.org or call the Cemetery Office at 648-8501
to reserve a place. Tours will be limited to fifteen (15) persons
each.
Annual Meeting
of Lot Owners
The 163rd annual meeting of Hollywood Cemetery lot
owners will be held at the Cemetery on Tuesday, May
17, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. Notices and proxies have been
mailed. Please mark your calendars for this informative
meeting. A spring tour will be offered immediately
following the meeting. Please see the article appearing
on this page.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Wilbanks Joins Friends Staff
O
n November 1, Kelly
Jones Wilbanks joined
the staff of Hollywood
Cemetery Company and
Friends of Hollywood
Cemetery as Director of
Development.
The new position was
approved by both Company
and Friends Boards in 2010
to address the increasing
fundraising responsibilities
and tasks being shouldered
by a small Cemetery office
staff and Friends directors.
“Presidents Circle deserves the attention that it is getting,”
states Gilliam. “There are few spots like it in the state or
country.” In addition to two Presidents of the United States,
it is the final resting place of Matthew Fontaine Maury (known
throughout the world as the Pathfinder of the Seas), Joseph
Reid Anderson (one of Richmond’s most influential and
effective citizens and founder of Tredegar Iron Works – the
largest in the South), William Henry Haxall (one of the four
visionary founders of Hollywood in 1847), Moses Drury Hogue
(first pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, and a
leading clergyman of his time), and Lawrence Waring. Waring,
a forty-three year old physician at the time of his death,
succumbed to exhaustion caring for the poor of Richmond in
the mid-nineteenth century. His grateful patients and friends
erected a monument to honor his life and mark his grave.
In addition to the soon-to-be-opened niche walkways at
Presidents Circle, Hollywood offers burial sites in the Idlewood
Section and Cremation Wall, the Palmer Mausoleum, the
Chapel Hill Avenue closed road project, and in numerous
reclaimed (abandoned) lots in older sections of the Cemetery.
For information, call the Cemetery Office at 804-648-8501.
2
“Kelly has become an invaluable resource,” states Mary Hoge
Anderson, Friends Chairperson. “Her interest in and enthusiasm
for Hollywood and the work of Friends have exceeded all
expectations.”
3
Kelly is a graduate of St. Catherine’s School in Richmond and
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For over ten
years, she held various positions with ADIA Personnel Services
including Vice President of the Northeast Region based in New
York as well as Vice President of National Accounts. ADIA
Personnel Services, now the Adecco Group, is the world’s
leading provider of personnel services and is based in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Kelly’s experience also includes Human Resources with Crestar
Bank, now Suntrust Bank, as well as Director of Administration
for Harris Williams & Co., a Richmond investment bank.
Leaving Harris Williams, she decided to stay at home with
her two young children. Later, she was recruited by her alma
mater, St. Catherine’s School, to be Director of Admission until
2009 and helped transition the 120-year-old school from a dayboarding school to an all-day school.
5
4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“I was generally familiar with Hollywood but had no real
concept of its significance as one of our City’s most important
landmarks,” Kelly remarks. “It is a museum, an outdoor
museum, as well as a park of unique and special beauty. One of
my primary goals is to increase awareness of Hollywood to the
Richmond community and to introduce it to a new generation of
Richmonders.”
Kelly is married to Dr. Peter Wilbanks. They have a son, Thorn,
and a daughter, Jonesy.
Page 8
SPRING 2011
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
An aerial view of the Presidents Circle Project. The circular Mount containing the monuments of Presidents Monroe and Tyler appears in the upper center. Roads have
been removed, and new walkways are under construction. Cremation niches, to be
covered with granite tops, are visible in the lower right.
Over 100,000 pre-cut granite cobblestones will be required for the project. Here,
workmen lay stone at the base of President Monroe’s Tomb. Stones are set on 1½ to 2
inches of compacted sand.
Cobblestones were ordered in three distinct shades in order to achieve color variation
in the new walks.
Many pieces of curbing that defined the perimeter of the Mount were missing.
Replacement granite curbing was ordered. In order to properly fit new to old, it was
necessary to start from scratch. All existing curbing was removed, a new foundation
was poured, and then, piece by piece, a new perimeter was created.
Overseeing day-to-day progress, KBS Project Supervisor Tony Zimmer has become a
Hollywood fixture.
Page 5
SPRING 2011
Profile: Hunter Holmes (“Mac”) McGuire, Jr., M.D.
A
Teaching the Lessons of Hollywood
surgeon’s keen eye and steady
hands led him to a successful
career in medicine. The same
qualities gave him the talent of
a true artist. These attributes,
combined with a Renaissance
interest in history, instilled in him
a passion for Hollywood. Meet
Dr. Hunter H. McGuire, Jr.—not
surprisingly one of the cemetery’s
most notable recent directors and
its widely acknowledged unofficial
historian.
Known to his friends as Mac, Dr.
McGuire recently reflected on the
cemetery for this newsletter. In a
lively conversation peppered with
wry wit, Mac likened Hollywood to
a kaleidoscope of the city’s storied
past.
Childhood memories
His love of the cemetery’s rolling hills came to him in childhood
during the 1930s when his mother
took him and his siblings for Sunday afternoon strolls. Mrs. McGuire
used these walks to tell stories of
the Richmonders buried there—high
and low, noble and wicked. As they
walked, the children searched the
monuments for the smallest angel, or
the saddest, or the most unusual.
Undoubtedly, says Mac, the weeping angel monument for Nicholas
Worthington is the saddest. The
most impressive, they thought, was
the bronze angel at the Rueger family plot because it looks like an Augustus Saint Gaudens statue, though
it isn’t. Today, one of his favorites
is the angel at the John Akin Branch
tomb. It holds poppy seeds in one
hand—representing sleep—and a
serpent eating its tail in the other
hand—symbolizing eternity.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Both then and now, Mac’s
favorite spot has been
Presidents Circle, the last
resting place of Presidents
Monroe and Tyler. Here,
Mrs. McGuire would recite
her favorite verses from
Psalm 46. When she got to
the line, “There is a river,
the streams whereof shall
make glad the city of God,”
Mac remembers with a
grin, he knew Richmond
was indeed the Holy City.
SPRING 2011
A visit from Edward Ayers
When the Hollywood board elected
Mac a director, he went on pilgrimages
to other historical resting places
to learn how they capitalized on
their strengths and addressed their
challenges. Top on the list was Mount
Auburn, the Boston model that inspired
Hollywood’s founders.
Mac’s knowledge came to the aid of
the internet radio show, BackStory,
created by three historians, one of them
Dr. Edward L. Ayers, now president of
the University of Richmond. When the
program planned a segment on death
and dying, Dr. Ayers called on Mac
for his wisdom. On an auspiciously
gloomy and rainy day, Ayers and
members of the Hollywood board
roamed the winding lanes with Mac
in a covered golf cart to hear his tales
about the people whose monuments dot
the hillsides.
As his knowledge of Hollywood grew,
Mac began to write down the stories
he had accumulated and self-published
a short book. By this time, he had
become known as the conscience of
Hollywood, a tireless campaigner
for viewing it not only as a working
cemetery but also as an ideal place for
telling stories that transmit local culture
from one generation to the next.
Mac delighted in telling the story of
Mary Thomas, who saved the bell of
First Baptist Church from being melted
down for Confederate cannon. Her
husband provided the main funding
for Richmond College, antecedent of
the University of Richmond. Mac
also showed Ayers the large area that
Thomas set aside for the burial of
future presidents of the university.
Next, he created a witty slide
presentation to show the mystical
quality of Hollywood’s hills, trees,
and monuments and to share the
intriguing stories he had learned.
When he gave that talk at the Virginia
Historical Society, it was the society’s
most popular lecture to date. Filled
to capacity, the VHS still had to turn
away more than a hundred people and
schedule a repeat performance.
When writer and photographer John
Peters conceived an illustrated history
of Hollywood, he consulted Mac, who
generously shared his voluminous
research notes. For Peters, the most
gratifying response to his handsome
book was a letter from Mac praising his
Pilgrim and campaigner
On those joyful outings,
the games they played were
fun, but Mrs. McGuire encouraged them for another
purpose. Imperceptibly,
her children absorbed sto- Hunter “Mac” McGuire and St. Patrick -- Hill of Slane, Ireland, 2008
ries about the people threadpoint during the presidency of Franklin
ing the tapestry of Richmond’s history.
Roosevelt. If they put their hands on
Randolph’s monument, Mrs. McGuire
At the monument of James Valentine,
said, they could feel Randolph spinthe children recalled the railroad enning in his grave to protest the federal
gineer who died in a train wreck. At
government’s growth under the New
the one for Gov. William “Extra Billy”
Deal. With a twinkle in his eye, Mac
Smith, they learned how he led his Con- says it was literally true. You could feel
federate regiment into battle carrying
the vibrations from Randolph’s grave—
only an umbrella to protect him from the but perhaps only when the coal trains
sun. Dr. Lawrence Waring died from
rumbled past.
exhaustion while caring for the indigent.
In gratitude, the city’s poor collected do- A love of Hollywood came naturally to
nations to build his monument. Another someone whose family included notable
favorite grave was that of writer Ellen
contributors to Virginia history. Mac
Glasgow. Buried with her dogs and her enjoys saying that the ancestor whose
ear trumpet, she wanted to hear the last
name he bears “assisted the fatal exit”
trump on Judgment Day.
of Stonewall Jackson. If you’re familiar
with Mac’s humor, you’ll see the irony.
Vibrations from the grave
That devoted army surgeon strove heroically, but in vain, to save Jackson’s life
During their Sunday rambles, the Mcafter he was wounded at ChancellorsGuires often sought out the grave of the ville. That doctor’s son organized a field
acerbic nineteenth-century misanthrope
hospital from the Medical College of
John Randolph of Roanoke. Randolph,
Virginia in France during World War I.
who loathed his contemporary, Thomas
Jefferson, proclaimed that he himself
With medicine so much a part of his
loved freedom but hated equality. Mac
family’s history, Mac naturally looked to
reminds you that his mother made this
Page 6
the healing professions for a career. After studying at the University of Virginia
and MCV, he practiced surgery in Richmond and retired as chief of surgery at
McGuire VA Medical Center, named for
his great grandfather.
In the talk, he beguiled his audience
with the tales his mother had taught him
about famous Richmonders buried at
Hollywood. For example, she separated
one prominent family into the Tobacco
Williamses and the Pious Williamses
according to professions chosen by that
numerous clan’s different branches.
Early twentieth-century entrepreneur
John Langbourne Williams was
memorable not so much for his big
monument as for the dispositions in his
will: he left all his money to his wife
but enjoined his children to “cherish the
Holy Scriptures.”
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood Cemetery
Page 7
accomplishment.
From early days as a medical student,
Mac demonstrated artistic promise. Now
McGuire watercolors grace a growing
number of Richmond homes. In recent
months, for his painting inspiration Mac
has turned to Hollywood.
How could it have been otherwise?
Although he rotated off the board
several years ago, Hollywood still
claims his affections. He dreams of
digitizing its records for online visitors
and fiercely opposes the use of plastic
flowers.
His love of the setting and vast
knowledge accumulated over a lifetime
make the cemetery the perfect subject
for his art. One of his watercolors
is reprinted here. It shows the view
near the edge of the cemetery, looking
past gracefully aging monuments to
bygone Richmonders and across the
eternal rapids of the James. Not far,
one suspects, from the spot where
visitors—if they listen carefully—may
still hear John Randolph of Roanoke
spinning in his grave when the CSX
coal trains rumble past.
Contributed by Nelson D. Lankford,
Member, Hollywood Cemetery
Board of Directors
A Watercolor by Hunter H. McGuire, Jr.
SPRING 2011
Profile: Hunter Holmes (“Mac”) McGuire, Jr., M.D.
A
Teaching the Lessons of Hollywood
surgeon’s keen eye and steady
hands led him to a successful
career in medicine. The same
qualities gave him the talent of
a true artist. These attributes,
combined with a Renaissance
interest in history, instilled in him
a passion for Hollywood. Meet
Dr. Hunter H. McGuire, Jr.—not
surprisingly one of the cemetery’s
most notable recent directors and
its widely acknowledged unofficial
historian.
Known to his friends as Mac, Dr.
McGuire recently reflected on the
cemetery for this newsletter. In a
lively conversation peppered with
wry wit, Mac likened Hollywood to
a kaleidoscope of the city’s storied
past.
Childhood memories
His love of the cemetery’s rolling hills came to him in childhood
during the 1930s when his mother
took him and his siblings for Sunday afternoon strolls. Mrs. McGuire
used these walks to tell stories of
the Richmonders buried there—high
and low, noble and wicked. As they
walked, the children searched the
monuments for the smallest angel, or
the saddest, or the most unusual.
Undoubtedly, says Mac, the weeping angel monument for Nicholas
Worthington is the saddest. The
most impressive, they thought, was
the bronze angel at the Rueger family plot because it looks like an Augustus Saint Gaudens statue, though
it isn’t. Today, one of his favorites
is the angel at the John Akin Branch
tomb. It holds poppy seeds in one
hand—representing sleep—and a
serpent eating its tail in the other
hand—symbolizing eternity.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Both then and now, Mac’s
favorite spot has been
Presidents Circle, the last
resting place of Presidents
Monroe and Tyler. Here,
Mrs. McGuire would recite
her favorite verses from
Psalm 46. When she got to
the line, “There is a river,
the streams whereof shall
make glad the city of God,”
Mac remembers with a
grin, he knew Richmond
was indeed the Holy City.
SPRING 2011
A visit from Edward Ayers
When the Hollywood board elected
Mac a director, he went on pilgrimages
to other historical resting places
to learn how they capitalized on
their strengths and addressed their
challenges. Top on the list was Mount
Auburn, the Boston model that inspired
Hollywood’s founders.
Mac’s knowledge came to the aid of
the internet radio show, BackStory,
created by three historians, one of them
Dr. Edward L. Ayers, now president of
the University of Richmond. When the
program planned a segment on death
and dying, Dr. Ayers called on Mac
for his wisdom. On an auspiciously
gloomy and rainy day, Ayers and
members of the Hollywood board
roamed the winding lanes with Mac
in a covered golf cart to hear his tales
about the people whose monuments dot
the hillsides.
As his knowledge of Hollywood grew,
Mac began to write down the stories
he had accumulated and self-published
a short book. By this time, he had
become known as the conscience of
Hollywood, a tireless campaigner
for viewing it not only as a working
cemetery but also as an ideal place for
telling stories that transmit local culture
from one generation to the next.
Mac delighted in telling the story of
Mary Thomas, who saved the bell of
First Baptist Church from being melted
down for Confederate cannon. Her
husband provided the main funding
for Richmond College, antecedent of
the University of Richmond. Mac
also showed Ayers the large area that
Thomas set aside for the burial of
future presidents of the university.
Next, he created a witty slide
presentation to show the mystical
quality of Hollywood’s hills, trees,
and monuments and to share the
intriguing stories he had learned.
When he gave that talk at the Virginia
Historical Society, it was the society’s
most popular lecture to date. Filled
to capacity, the VHS still had to turn
away more than a hundred people and
schedule a repeat performance.
When writer and photographer John
Peters conceived an illustrated history
of Hollywood, he consulted Mac, who
generously shared his voluminous
research notes. For Peters, the most
gratifying response to his handsome
book was a letter from Mac praising his
Pilgrim and campaigner
On those joyful outings,
the games they played were
fun, but Mrs. McGuire encouraged them for another
purpose. Imperceptibly,
her children absorbed sto- Hunter “Mac” McGuire and St. Patrick -- Hill of Slane, Ireland, 2008
ries about the people threadpoint during the presidency of Franklin
ing the tapestry of Richmond’s history.
Roosevelt. If they put their hands on
Randolph’s monument, Mrs. McGuire
At the monument of James Valentine,
said, they could feel Randolph spinthe children recalled the railroad enning in his grave to protest the federal
gineer who died in a train wreck. At
government’s growth under the New
the one for Gov. William “Extra Billy”
Deal. With a twinkle in his eye, Mac
Smith, they learned how he led his Con- says it was literally true. You could feel
federate regiment into battle carrying
the vibrations from Randolph’s grave—
only an umbrella to protect him from the but perhaps only when the coal trains
sun. Dr. Lawrence Waring died from
rumbled past.
exhaustion while caring for the indigent.
In gratitude, the city’s poor collected do- A love of Hollywood came naturally to
nations to build his monument. Another someone whose family included notable
favorite grave was that of writer Ellen
contributors to Virginia history. Mac
Glasgow. Buried with her dogs and her enjoys saying that the ancestor whose
ear trumpet, she wanted to hear the last
name he bears “assisted the fatal exit”
trump on Judgment Day.
of Stonewall Jackson. If you’re familiar
with Mac’s humor, you’ll see the irony.
Vibrations from the grave
That devoted army surgeon strove heroically, but in vain, to save Jackson’s life
During their Sunday rambles, the Mcafter he was wounded at ChancellorsGuires often sought out the grave of the ville. That doctor’s son organized a field
acerbic nineteenth-century misanthrope
hospital from the Medical College of
John Randolph of Roanoke. Randolph,
Virginia in France during World War I.
who loathed his contemporary, Thomas
Jefferson, proclaimed that he himself
With medicine so much a part of his
loved freedom but hated equality. Mac
family’s history, Mac naturally looked to
reminds you that his mother made this
Page 6
the healing professions for a career. After studying at the University of Virginia
and MCV, he practiced surgery in Richmond and retired as chief of surgery at
McGuire VA Medical Center, named for
his great grandfather.
In the talk, he beguiled his audience
with the tales his mother had taught him
about famous Richmonders buried at
Hollywood. For example, she separated
one prominent family into the Tobacco
Williamses and the Pious Williamses
according to professions chosen by that
numerous clan’s different branches.
Early twentieth-century entrepreneur
John Langbourne Williams was
memorable not so much for his big
monument as for the dispositions in his
will: he left all his money to his wife
but enjoined his children to “cherish the
Holy Scriptures.”
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood Cemetery
Page 7
accomplishment.
From early days as a medical student,
Mac demonstrated artistic promise. Now
McGuire watercolors grace a growing
number of Richmond homes. In recent
months, for his painting inspiration Mac
has turned to Hollywood.
How could it have been otherwise?
Although he rotated off the board
several years ago, Hollywood still
claims his affections. He dreams of
digitizing its records for online visitors
and fiercely opposes the use of plastic
flowers.
His love of the setting and vast
knowledge accumulated over a lifetime
make the cemetery the perfect subject
for his art. One of his watercolors
is reprinted here. It shows the view
near the edge of the cemetery, looking
past gracefully aging monuments to
bygone Richmonders and across the
eternal rapids of the James. Not far,
one suspects, from the spot where
visitors—if they listen carefully—may
still hear John Randolph of Roanoke
spinning in his grave when the CSX
coal trains rumble past.
Contributed by Nelson D. Lankford,
Member, Hollywood Cemetery
Board of Directors
A Watercolor by Hunter H. McGuire, Jr.
SPRING 2011
Rain or Shine
F
Spring Tours Planned
For Lot Owners and
Friends Supporters
riends of Hollywood have scheduled three walking
tours and one riding tour of the Cemetery in May for
Hollywood lot owners and friends.
“It is a beautiful time of year at the Cemetery,” says Kelly
Wilbanks, Director of Development, “and we wished to do
something special for our Hollywood families and supporters.”
Trained guides from the Valentine Richmond History Center
will conduct the free of charge tours on the following dates.
Tours will originate at the Hollywood Chapel/Office and last
approximately an hour and a half.
• Tuesday, May 17th, 11:30 am (immediately following the Annual Meeting of Lot Owners)
• Thursday, May 19th, 10:30 am
• Saturday, May 21st, 10:30 am
• Sunday, May 22nd, 2:00 pm – BUS TOUR
The Valentine Richmond History Center has been conducting
tours of Hollywood for many years. “It is one of the most
popular tours we offer,” according to Linda Krinsky, the
History Center’s Director of Tours. Guides are extremely
knowledgeable not only of the history of the Cemetery, but also
“the landscape design, architecture, symbols and the notables
buried in Hollywood.”
Following each tour, Friends will provide light refreshment at
the Chapel.
Please e-mail Kelly Wilbanks at Kwilbanks@
hollywoodcemetery.org or call the Cemetery Office at 648-8501
to reserve a place. Tours will be limited to fifteen (15) persons
each.
Annual Meeting
of Lot Owners
The 163rd annual meeting of Hollywood Cemetery lot
owners will be held at the Cemetery on Tuesday, May
17, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. Notices and proxies have been
mailed. Please mark your calendars for this informative
meeting. A spring tour will be offered immediately
following the meeting. Please see the article appearing
on this page.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Wilbanks Joins Friends Staff
O
n November 1, Kelly
Jones Wilbanks joined
the staff of Hollywood
Cemetery Company and
Friends of Hollywood
Cemetery as Director of
Development.
The new position was
approved by both Company
and Friends Boards in 2010
to address the increasing
fundraising responsibilities
and tasks being shouldered
by a small Cemetery office
staff and Friends directors.
“Presidents Circle deserves the attention that it is getting,”
states Gilliam. “There are few spots like it in the state or
country.” In addition to two Presidents of the United States,
it is the final resting place of Matthew Fontaine Maury (known
throughout the world as the Pathfinder of the Seas), Joseph
Reid Anderson (one of Richmond’s most influential and
effective citizens and founder of Tredegar Iron Works – the
largest in the South), William Henry Haxall (one of the four
visionary founders of Hollywood in 1847), Moses Drury Hogue
(first pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, and a
leading clergyman of his time), and Lawrence Waring. Waring,
a forty-three year old physician at the time of his death,
succumbed to exhaustion caring for the poor of Richmond in
the mid-nineteenth century. His grateful patients and friends
erected a monument to honor his life and mark his grave.
In addition to the soon-to-be-opened niche walkways at
Presidents Circle, Hollywood offers burial sites in the Idlewood
Section and Cremation Wall, the Palmer Mausoleum, the
Chapel Hill Avenue closed road project, and in numerous
reclaimed (abandoned) lots in older sections of the Cemetery.
For information, call the Cemetery Office at 804-648-8501.
2
“Kelly has become an invaluable resource,” states Mary Hoge
Anderson, Friends Chairperson. “Her interest in and enthusiasm
for Hollywood and the work of Friends have exceeded all
expectations.”
3
Kelly is a graduate of St. Catherine’s School in Richmond and
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For over ten
years, she held various positions with ADIA Personnel Services
including Vice President of the Northeast Region based in New
York as well as Vice President of National Accounts. ADIA
Personnel Services, now the Adecco Group, is the world’s
leading provider of personnel services and is based in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Kelly’s experience also includes Human Resources with Crestar
Bank, now Suntrust Bank, as well as Director of Administration
for Harris Williams & Co., a Richmond investment bank.
Leaving Harris Williams, she decided to stay at home with
her two young children. Later, she was recruited by her alma
mater, St. Catherine’s School, to be Director of Admission until
2009 and helped transition the 120-year-old school from a dayboarding school to an all-day school.
5
4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“I was generally familiar with Hollywood but had no real
concept of its significance as one of our City’s most important
landmarks,” Kelly remarks. “It is a museum, an outdoor
museum, as well as a park of unique and special beauty. One of
my primary goals is to increase awareness of Hollywood to the
Richmond community and to introduce it to a new generation of
Richmonders.”
Kelly is married to Dr. Peter Wilbanks. They have a son, Thorn,
and a daughter, Jonesy.
Page 8
SPRING 2011
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
An aerial view of the Presidents Circle Project. The circular Mount containing the monuments of Presidents Monroe and Tyler appears in the upper center. Roads have
been removed, and new walkways are under construction. Cremation niches, to be
covered with granite tops, are visible in the lower right.
Over 100,000 pre-cut granite cobblestones will be required for the project. Here,
workmen lay stone at the base of President Monroe’s Tomb. Stones are set on 1½ to 2
inches of compacted sand.
Cobblestones were ordered in three distinct shades in order to achieve color variation
in the new walks.
Many pieces of curbing that defined the perimeter of the Mount were missing.
Replacement granite curbing was ordered. In order to properly fit new to old, it was
necessary to start from scratch. All existing curbing was removed, a new foundation
was poured, and then, piece by piece, a new perimeter was created.
Overseeing day-to-day progress, KBS Project Supervisor Tony Zimmer has become a
Hollywood fixture.
Page 5
SPRING 2011
Extensive Project
G
A Second Life for Presidents Circle
round was broken in September
2010 for one of the most significant
projects contemplated by Hollywood’s
2005 Revised and Updated Master Plan.
The project involves the permanent
closure of all roads leading into
Presidents Circle and replacement with
meandering cobblestone walks lined by
over nine hundred granite cremation
niches.
projects are distinctly different but
totally complimentary. The result will be
magnificent.”
Project planning has been under
review for several years. At a cost of
approximately $1.0 million, it is the
largest developmental undertaking in
Hollywood since the construction of the
Palmer Mausoleum beside the James
River. Completion, including the
planting of new ground covers, shrubbery
and trees, is expected to occur by May 1.
Michael (“Mike”) Van Yahres, Partner,
has an intimate familiarity with
Hollywood Cemetery. “I realized that
we were being asked to work in some
pretty intimidating surroundings,” he
shared recently. “Presidents Circle and
the historic sections that surround it are
Hollywood’s bull’s eye. We saw our
charge as supporting the art in stone and
iron that is there, and not competing with
it.”
“The project timing coincides beautifully
with the efforts of Friends to restore
monuments and fences in and around
Presidents Circle,” according to David
Gilliam, General Manager. “The two
The Board retained Van Yahres
Associates of Charlottesville to develop
the detailed site design. Important to the
Board and Van Yahres was preservation
of the unusual geometric symmetry of
original roadways and walks.
After reviewing a number of bids,
the project was awarded to KBS,
headquartered in Richmond and one
of the largest and most well-respected
general contractors in the Mid-Atlantic
region. KBS’s local accomplishments
include numerous highly visible projects
such as the UNOS Donor Memorial
Garden, CarMax Corporate Headquarters,
Luck Stone Headquarters, Country Club
of Virginia Aquatic Center, and VCU’s
Rice Center for Environmental Life
Sciences. Messer Companies, especially
known for its work on the State Capitol
Visitor Center, was retained for all stone
and masonry work.
A total of 607 tons (1,214,000 lbs.) of
granite was required for the project and
provided by Luck Stone Corporation,
including edging, low and tall curbing,
and over 100,000 individual, seven-anda-half pound cobblestones. Every piece
of stone was pre-cut prior to delivery and
designed to fit together with all other
pieces on site just like a giant jigsaw
puzzle.
“KBS and Messer have exceeded all
expectations,” Mike Van
Yahres remarked. “There
have been few if any
problems or change orders.
The project has proceeded
extremely well.”
Individual cremation niches
lining the cobblestone
walkways will be covered
with smooth, rectangular
granite covers, large enough
to contain suitable engraved
identifying information. All
niches have been designed
to contain two cremains.
Hollywood seeks to be
an active cemetery for at
least fifty or more years.
To do so, the Board and
Management Staff wish to
be able to offer a variety of
interment sites and options
to individuals and families
at all times and to dispel the
notion that “Hollywood is
full.”
(Continued on page 5)
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Page 4
SPRING 2011
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery
“A Feast for the Eyes as well as the Mind”
T
his was the manner in which John O. Peters’s latest
book, Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, was described
in Virginia Book Notes of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
(January 9, 2011).
This is the seventh book for which John Peters has written
the words or taken the photographs, sometimes both, as is
the case with this work. Peters began work on the project
in the summer of 2006. His final manuscript was completed
in October 2008. Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery was
published by the Valentine Richmond History Center and
released in October 2010.
director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Making the
Mummies Dance.
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery is available at Barnes and
Noble, the Valentine Richmond History Center Gift Shop,
Virginia Historical Society Gift Shop, Hollywood Cemetery,
the Richmond Visitors Center and at local booksellers such as
Fountain Books and Book People. The book also is available
for purchase online at www.richmondhistorycenter.com.
“Working on the Hollywood project was an absolute delight,”
recalls Peters. Over the months, Peters has conducted a
number of book signings and spoken several times about his
book, including two well-attended Banner Series lectures at
the Virginia Historical Society.
Prior to beginning his second career as accomplished
author and a talented photographer, Peters practiced law in
Richmond for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of the
Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia
School of Law. Currently, Peters is hard at work on a new
manuscript on the history of the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery is a collection of
Hollywood history, stories, and anecdotes covering 160
years. Peters writes about architecture, landscape, ironwork,
stone carvers, mausoleums, symbolism and residents –
notable and otherwise. Peters is the second author given
access to Hollywood minute books and records from which
to perform original research.
Included in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery are nearly
200 images, 45 of which are in full color. There are also
numerous historic photographs not previously published.
Peters spent nearly a year photographing the Cemetery in
order to capture various light, moods, and the individual
seasons.
In his review of Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery appearing
in Style Weekly on October 6, 2010, Edwin Slipek not only
heaps praise upon Peters’s work but also provides some
unusual imagery. He said that Peters “has surely and
assuredly woven a lively and layered quilt that patches
together some 160 years of intriguing corporate, political,
military, architectural, social and funerary history.” He
concludes with: “But author and photographer Peters takes
things further. He almost makes the mummies dance” – a
reference to the autobiography of Thomas Hoving, former
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
John O. Peters Courtesy of the Valentine Richmond History Center
Page 9
SPRING 2011
2010 Contributors
To
Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
We are indeed grateful to the following donors for their generous support of Friends in 2010. You have enabled us to begin
a significant monument and fence restoration project in and around Presidents Circle. Thank you for helping us to preserve
Hollywood Cemetery for generations to come.
Mary Hoge Anderson
Chair, Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin C. Ackerly
Mr. and Mrs. John P. Ackerly III
Mr. and Mrs. John P. Ackerly IV
Mr. Max R. Adam
Mr. and Mrs. S. Wyndham Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin C. Andrews III
Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Angus
Mr. and Mrs. Beverley W. Armstrong
Mr. and Mrs. John S. Arnold
Mrs. Sally T. Bagley
Mr. William B. Baker
Mrs. Katherine R. Banisch
Mr. Martin J. Bannon, Jr.
Mr. William N. Barrett, Jr.
Mrs. John W. Bates, III
Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt S. Beazley III
Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Beirne, Jr.
Mrs. Margaret P. Bemiss
Mrs. Hazel Beninghove
Mrs. Lillian Bennett
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund L. Benson III
Ms. Martha R. Bibb
Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Black
Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Blackwell
Mrs. Frank M. Blanton
Mr. Donald Bogen
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis T. Booker
Mr. Bowlman T. Bowles, Jr.
Mr. Charles Bowman
Mr. and Mrs. McGuire Boyd
Mrs. Caroline Y. Brandt
Mr. Philip K. Bridgeman
Mr. and Mrs. Austin Brockenbrough III
Mrs. Martha C. Brook
Mr. Duane G. Brown
Mr. William M. Brown III
Mrs. Joyce Kent Brown
Mr. and Mrs. J. Stewart Bryan III
Mr. and Mrs. William Michaux
Buchanan
Mrs. E. C. Buckminster
Mr. and Mrs. Bryce A. Bugg
Mr. A. Christian Burke
Mr. Richard S. Burke
Mr. Clifford L. Bussells, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew V. Cable, Sr.
Mrs. Joseph B. Call, Jr.
Mr. Brian M. Cann
Mrs. Dorothy G. Cardozo
Mr. Drew St. J. Carneal
Mrs. Anne K. Carnefix
Mrs. Francis F. Carr, Jr.
Mrs. Emily E. Carter
Mrs. Dorothy P. Cary
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Cary
Mr. and Mrs. Warren W. Caskie
Mrs. Leah A. Catterino
Mr. Richard T. Cavedo
Mrs. Virginia D. Chapman
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Chewning
Mr. Carter C. Chinnis
M. Louise Chrisman
Mrs. Elizabeth P. Christian
Mrs. Stuart G. Christian, Jr.
Ms. Agnes C. Clark
Mrs. William H. Clarke
Mrs. Suzanne P. Closs
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth D. Cobb III
Mrs. Sally C. Condrey
Mrs. Harriett W. Condrey
Mrs. Janet H. Connors
Mr. and Mrs. George T. Conwell
Mr. John E. Corey
Mrs. Henry J. Corra
Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Craigie
Mrs. Susan G. Crone
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Cronly III
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Curdts
Mrs. Martha O. Davenport
Mr. and Mrs. Bradfute W. Davenport, Jr.
Mr. Allan Holderness Davis, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Norwood H. Davis, Jr.
Mrs. Ingrid H. Davis
Mrs. Elizabeth C. Dawes
Dr. Brigitte de la Burde
Miss Alice DeCamps
Mrs. Overton D. Dennis, Jr.
Mr. Samuel A. Derieux
Mr. Charles W. Dickinson
Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Dietz
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Disharoon
Mrs. Ann L. Ditto
Mrs. Tanya P. Dolphin
Mr. Walter Dotts III
Mr. and Mrs. Mark S. Dray
Mr. and Mrs. Roger W. Dudley
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer K. Dunn
Mrs. Fred R. Edney
Mr. Gene H. Edwards, Jr.
Miss Virginia C. Ellett
Mr. George C. Ely II
Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Erikson
Mr. Christopher J. Evans
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Fain
Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Farley IV
Mr. and Mrs. James E. Farnham
Mrs. Martha A. Faulkner
Mrs. Russell G Fergusson, Jr.
Mrs. Carolyn M. Fetrow
Dr. and Mrs. Adam J. Fielder
Mrs. Katherine G. Fields
Mr. James H. Fields
Mr. Jerald A. Finch
Mrs. Edgar J. Fisher, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert E. Fitzgerald III
Mrs. Frances B. Fitzgerald
Mr. and Mrs. Harvie W. Fitzgerald
Mrs. Mary Toms Fitzgerald
Mr. Robert J. Flacke
Mrs. Frank V. Fowlkes
Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Fowlkes, Jr.
Mr. Richard H. Fox
Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Fox
Mrs. Lucille S. Gaines
Mrs. William C. Garbee, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Gates
Mrs. Kenneth G. Gentil
Mr. Stuart Gilchrist
Major General L. H. Ginn III
Mrs. James M. Glave
Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Goddin
Mr. C. Hobson Goddin
Mrs. Kathryn B. Goodman
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce C. Gottwald
Mr. and Mrs. Ellis B. Grady, Jr.
Mrs. Aelise Britton Green
Mrs. George Dennis Gregory
Mr. and Mrs. John R. Grymes
Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Grymes, Jr.
Mrs. John H. Guy, Jr.
Mrs. Phyllis Guynn
Mrs. Arthur H. Haase
Mr. Charles L. Hague
Mr. and Mrs. Brenton S. Halsey
Dr. Dana B. Hamel
Page 10
Mr. and Mrs. James C. Hamilton, Jr.
Mr. Richard P. Hankins, Jr.
Mrs. William M. Harlow
Mrs. Jean H. Harrier
Mr. and Mrs. Elliott Harrigan
Ms. Martha H. Harris
Ms. Sally C. Harrison
Mr. and Mrs. Claude H. Harrison
Mrs. Martha C. Harwood
Mr. Robert V. Hatcher, Jr.
Mrs. Judy Hawthorne
Mr. Frank D. Hill III
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Hill
Mrs. S. Winfield Hill
Mr. and Mrs. William M. Hill
Mrs. Jean H. Hoagland
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Hodgins
Mr. and Mrs. J. Cameron Hoggan, Jr.
Mr. William H. Hoofnagle III
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Hoppe
Mr. and Mrs. Fenton N. Hord, Sr.
Dr. J. Shelton Horsley III
Mrs. Evelyn W. Hotchkiss
Mr. A. E. Dick Howard
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Howell III
Mrs. George C. Howell, Jr.
Dr. J. Hubert
Mrs. Cheryl Hudson
Mrs. Virginia L. Hunt
Mr. Johnnie W. Inman
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Innes
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel S. Jackson, Jr.
Mrs. G. Watson James III
Mrs. Anne H. Jennings
Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah J. Jewett III
Mr. Miles C. Johnston, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. F. Claiborne Johnston, Jr.
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Jones
Mr. John F. B. Jurgens
Mrs. Page M. Kjellstrom
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Klein
Mrs. Elaine Kozlowski
Mrs. Sheri Kresal
Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Kuhn
Mr. and Mrs. Brockenbrough Lamb, Jr.
Mrs. Norvell H. Lamb
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Henly Lamb
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson D. Lankford
Mr. Robert H. Large
SPRING 2011
2
4
1.
2.
An early image (ca. 1900) of
the re-designed tower and
newly constructed Hollywood
Chapel. Courtesy of the
Library of Virginia
The visible separation of the
south wall of the Chapel
from the west wall of the tower has now been repaired.
3. A buttress supporting the
west wall of the Chapel
had shifted by four or more inches. It was dismantled
stone by stone and
re-assembled once
underpinning was completed.
4. Workmen installing a steel I-beam (“dead man”)
to stabilize the southwest corner of the Chapel prior
to excavation.
3
5. A workman standing 12 feet below grade in a
safety harness measures in one of ten pits. A five gallon bucket used for removing excavated material is visible suspended from a rope. The
original brick foundation of the Chapel
appears in the upper left and a yellow
ventilation pipe in the lower left.
6. A pit recently filled with reinforced concrete
(approximately 4 cubic yards). Several inches
of space between the top of concrete and the base of the foundation have been filled with packed dry grout – a substance that does not shrink when it sets.
6
5
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Page 3
SPRING 2011
110-Year-Old Chapel Stabilized
The project would also require roof repairs,
gap/joint pointing, the disassembly and
rebuilding of a major stone support buttress
and extensive interior repair and painting.
The general contractor chosen for
the project was RVA Construction of
Richmond. Dean Van Arsdale, RVA
partner, explained that his first assignment
was to challenge the S&ME/Fox
conclusions. “Was there another way, a
less expensive yet reliable way of doing the
job?”
A
major project to stabilize the
walls of Hollywood’s historic,
hundred-and-ten-year-old Chapel was
successfully completed in December
2010. Constructed in two phases, the
Chapel (now serving as the Cemetery
office) is one of Hollywood’s most
outstanding architectural features.
A two-story tower in the Gothic Revival
style was completed in 1871. It served as a
gate house and office when the entrance to
Hollywood was located on Cherry Street.
Phase two involved the addition of a third
story to the tower and construction of an
adjoining chapel/mortuary building. Work
on this phase was completed ca. 1898.
Plans for phase two were prepared by the
well-known Virginia architect, Marion
Johnson Dimmock.
Granite from James River quarries was the
primary building material for both the Chapel and tower. Over the years, these heavy
blocks have exerted significant downward
pressure on their foundations and the soil
strata beneath. Nowhere was this settling
force and movement more obvious than
in the southwest and southern walls of the
Chapel. In the location where the southern
wall adjoins the tower, a gap of nearly oneand-a-half to two inches had formed. In
other locations, movement approached four
inches.
Extensive geotechnical, structural and
architectural field studies were undertaken
at the request of the Board of Directors
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
in late 2009 and early 2010 by the
engineering firm, S&ME, Inc. – Richmond
Office, in cooperation with structural
engineers Fox & Associates, P.C. and
Cornerstone Architects, both of Richmond.
After digging a number of test pits,
performing borings, and analyzing findings,
S&ME reported that the southwestern and
southern walls were being compromised
by deteriorating and loosely compacted
sub-foundation materials (clay, sand, small
gravel) as well as moderate amounts of soil
moisture.
It was recommended that the condition be
addressed without delay. The remedial
technique would involve pit underpinning
as opposed to bracing or straightening
of walls. The problem would be mainly
addressed under ground rather than above
ground. Pits would be dug straight down
alongside the exterior walls, in some places
as deep as ten to twelve feet below grade,
and then at right angles under the walls.
They then would be filled with reinforced
concrete.
“How in the world do you do that?” asked
one board member. “The old fashioned
way,” responded Jesse Darden, S&ME
geotechnical engineer, “with shovels,
buckets, and a great deal of care.” Pit
underpinning is a centuries old, reliable and
highly successful technique, but despite
modern-day building technology, it is still
very much a manual process.
Page 2
Several foundation specialty firms
were consulted. “We simply weren’t
100% comfortable with the alternative
approaches,” Van Arsdale explained.
“After much investigation and thought, we
concluded that pit underpinning was the
way to go.”
The actual underpinning work was subbed
by RVA to Berkel & Company Contractors
from Silver Spring, Md. Berkel created
the design plan for how the project would
be executed. It involved the digging of ten
separate pits along the foundation, each
approximately 3½ feet wide.
The depth of each pit was determined as
digging proceeded. In some cases, a depth
of 12-13 feet below grade was required
in order to reach firm soil strata. Each
pit excavation extended under the brick
foundation and granite walls – from front
to back, a distance of 6-7 feet. Digging
was sequenced to ensure the greatest
degree of foundation/wall stability and
worker safety.
“I was surprised by how stable the old
brick foundations were,” Van Arsdale
remarked. “Normally old brick deteriorate
under ground, particularly in moist soil.”
Regardless, each pit worker was required to
wear a safety harness attached by ropes to a
hoist at the surface.
“We are delighted to have this project
completed,” says David Gilliam, General
Manager. “Preserving the building and
rededicating it one day to its original use
as a chapel and meeting place have always
been a dream of mine.”
SPRING 2011
Dr. and Mrs. Walter Lawrence, Jr.
Mr. Craig Lawson
Mrs. Carmen P. LeCompte
Mrs. John B. Leonard
Dr. Barbara H. Lester
Ms. Deborah H. Long
Mr. and Mrs. Gene K. Long
Dr. Ann Lowry
Miss Teresa Luckert
Mr. and Mrs. Linwood R. Lucord, Jr.
Mr. William H. Lyne, Jr.
Mrs. Frank C. Maloney III
Mr. Robert R. Martin
E. Jean Matherne
Mrs. H. Page Mauck, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil R. Maxson, Jr.
Mr. Thomas J. Mayfield, Jr.
Mrs. Robert O. McClintock
Mrs. William M. McDonough
Dr. and Mrs.* Read F. McGehee, Jr.
Mrs. Susan A. McGrath
Dr. and Mrs. Francis H. McMullan
Mr. and Mrs. Rieman McNamara, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. George J. McVey
Mr. George W. Michael
Mrs. Richard A. Michaux
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller
Mr. Thomas M. Miller
Mr. Thomas M. Millhiser
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace B. Millner III
Mr. and Mrs. G. Gilmer Minor, III
Mr. and Mrs. Carlton P. Moffatt, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Molster, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. George V. Moncure
Mrs. Mary Ann Pollard Moore
Mr. Andrew T. Moore, Jr.
Mr. Gerald Morgan, Jr.
Mr. Thomas L. Mountcastle
Mr. Beverley B. Munford III
Mrs. Helen Turner Murphy
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis H. Myers
Mr. Thomas J. Nash
Mr. Polk M. Neal
Mrs. Lucy B. Negus
Mrs. Sarah Newcomb
Mr. and Mrs. James A. Nolen
Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Norfleet, Jr.
Mrs. Karen Maosha Norris
Mr. Frank C. Norvell, Jr.
Mr. William H. Overton
Mrs. Samuel F. Padgett III
Mr. Jerome F. Page, Jr.
Mrs. Ingrid Pantaenius
Mrs. H. Merrill Pasco
Mrs. Jane C. Patton
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley F. Pauley
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Payne
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Pearsall III
Mr. and Mrs. John Pearson
Mrs. Maria A. Pellew-Harvey
Mrs. Chiswell D. L. Perkins
Mrs. Robert C. Perry
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth M. Perry
Mrs. Linda B. Peterson
Mr. and Mrs. Hunter R. Pettus, Jr.
Mrs. P. P. Pilcher, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. C. Cotesworth Pinckney
Mrs. Robert N. Pollard, Jr.
Mrs. Suzanne C. Pollard
Mr. Wadim Polujektoff
Mrs. Jane D. Powell
Mr. E. Bryson Powell
Mr. and Mrs. Peter W.W. Powell
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Pratt
Mr. Joseph A. Ramage
Mrs. John Ramos
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde H. Ratcliffe
Mrs. Elizabeth Rawles
Mrs. Frank L. Rawling, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. P. Larus Reed III
Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Rettig
Mr. David P. Reynolds
Dr. and Mrs. James T. Rhodes
Mrs. Juliane M. Riley
Mrs. Maria W. Rippe
Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. Ritsch, Jr.
Mr. John W. Roberts
Mr. Field I. Robertson, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Robinson
Mr. Edwin M. Rucker, Jr.
Mrs. Anne A. Rudy
Mr. and Mrs. James C. Ruehrmund
Mrs. Paul L. Ruehrmund, Jr.
Mrs. Wanda B. Saine
Mrs. Calvin Satterfield III
Mrs. John D. Savage
Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Schaaf
Mr. and Mrs. John J. Schekulin
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Schrenk
Mr. D. Malcolm Schwartz
Mr. Walter W. Scott
Mrs. Elizabeth P. Scott
Mrs. Evelina Massie Scott
Mrs. James L. Seaborn, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Shands, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Conway H. Shield III
Mrs. Anne K. Shields
Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington Shuff
Mrs. Anne F. Simmons
Mr. Mitford Sims III
Mrs. Martha J. Sinclair
Mrs. Cecil S. Slagle
Mrs. Schuyler O. Sneed
Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Spain, Jr.
Mrs. Mary R. Spencer
Mr. Wortham A. Spilman, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Srpan
Mrs. Ursula F. Stalker
Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Starr, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald E. Steeber
Mrs. Emily Lloyd Stephens
Mr. F. Gordon Steward
Dr. Thomas P. Stratford
Mrs. Walter N. Street
Mr. Charles S. Stringfellow
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce W. Strong
Mrs. Hazeltine P. Strother
Mr. and Mrs. James E. B. Stuart IV
Mrs. Mary N. Sutherland
Mr. Thomas E. Sweet
Mrs. Ellen L. Tabb
Mrs. Cabell M. Tabb
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Talbott IV
Mr. and Mrs. William St.C. Talley
Mr. Samuel V. Tallman, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred T. Tattersall
Anne W. Taylor Trust
Mrs. Ruth Taylor
Mrs. Sally A. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Terry, Jr.
FRIENDS OF HOLLYWOOD
Mr. and Mrs. Walter TeStrake, Jr.
Mrs. Jane C. Texter
Mr. Paul G. Thayer
Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Thomas
Miss Laurie Thompson
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin C. Tiller
Dr. and Mrs. C. Kent Titus
Mr. Peter Toepffer
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Tompkins
Mrs. Zach Toms, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. Toms
Mrs. Martha K. Torkington
Mr. Brent D. Trefsgar
Mrs. Charlotte W. Trible
Dr. E. Randolph Trice
Mr. Landon W. Trigg
Mr. Benjamin W. Tripp
Judge John Randolph Tucker, Jr.
Mr. B. Walton Turnbull
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Turnbull
Mr. Joseph V. Turner III
Mrs. Lynne C. Valentine
Mr. and Mrs. Granville G. Valentine III
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Van Sickle
Dr. Elizabeth R. Vaughan
Mr. Ernest C. Vaughan, Jr.
Mrs. Fontaine J. Velz
Mrs. Evelyn M. Walke
Mrs. Kathryn K. Walker
Mr. and Mrs. C. Southall Wallace
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon W. Wallace
Mrs. Elizabeth F. Wallace
Dr. and Mrs. J. Latane Ware
Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Warthen III
Mr. James S. Watkinson
Mr. Harry Lee Watson III
Mrs. Patricia R. Weier
Mr. B. Randolph Wellford
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Wells III
Mr. Ralph C. White, Jr.
Mrs. Carol G. White
Ms. Jacqueline Whitmore
Mrs. Raymond H. Whitney
Dr. and Mrs. James R. Wickham
Dr. and Mrs. Peter T. Wilbanks
Mr. Carrington C. Wilkerson
Mr. and Mrs. Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
Mrs. Ann L. Williams
Mr. E. Otto N. Williams, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold J. Williams III
Mr. and Mrs. Harold J. Williams, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Williamson III
Mr. Robert G. Willis, Jr.
Ms. Isabella G. Witt
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Witt III
Dr. Natalie J. Woodall
Mr. John E. Woodward, Jr.
Mrs. Michael B. Wray
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Wyatt IV
Mrs. Mildred L. Wysong
Dr. Henry Yancey, Jr.
Mrs. Betty B. Young
Mr. and Mrs. John J. Zeugner IV
Mr. Richard B. Zorn
Mr. and Mrs. David Lee Zorn
* Deceased
Page 11
Corporations and
Foundations
Bank of America Matching Gifts
Beirne Carter Foundation
Edmund A. Saunders, Janie Q.
Saunders, and Jane Quinn Saunders
Foundation
Gottwald Foundation
Anne Carter Robins and Walter R.
Robins, Jr. Foundation
Windsor Foundation Trust
United Way of VA Peninsula
Van Yahres Associates
Van Yahres Tree Company
Gifts In-Kind
James River Garden Club
2010-2011
Officers and Directors
Hollywood Cemetery Company
Matthew D. Jenkins – President
Peter C. Toms – Vice President
David L. Gilliam – Secretary and
General Manager
Woodrow C. Harper – Treasurer
Mabel E. Toney – Assistant Secretary
and Assistant Treasurer
Mary Hoge Anderson
Ralph B. Higgins
Matthew D. Jenkins
Nelson D. Lankford
E. Bryson Powell
Fred T. Tattersall
Peter C. Toms
Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
2010-2011
Officers and Directors
Friends of Hollywood Cemetery
Mary Hoge Anderson – Chair
David L. Gilliam – Secretary
Peter C. Toms – Treasurer
Mary Hoge Anderson
Matthew D. Jenkins
Peter C. Toms
Fielding L. Williams, Jr.
Administrative Staff
Hollywood Cemetery Company
David L. Gilliam – General Manager
Woodrow C. Harper – Assistant
General Manager
Kelly J. Wilbanks - Director of
Development
Mabel E. Toney – Administrative
Assistant
SPRING 2011